New places, some same ole faces.

Well, I've been asked to join in with a couple of other gals and take over an existing message board and site. Since I now have a lot of free time on my hands, and no place to hang my internet hat - it seems like fate! Come on over and get back to your scrapbooking roots at the friendliest place on the internet - Scrap Shanty

Plop, Plop, Fizz, Fizz, oh what a relief it is!!

Did something yesterday that I should have done long ago! Life is too short to spend caught up in things you have the power to change! Something just wasn't working for me anymore, and I had to the power to change it by removing myself from the situation - and so I did! What a relief!!

Well I have decided that I am not cut out for the life of a house painter! LOL. DH and I painted the outside of the house this weekend, and plan on staining the deck and fences and then painting the inside of the house. I am not looking forward to the future projects, and am sure that I will have had enough of painting by the time we are done.

But, that complaining out of the way. It is very satisfying to look at how great the house looks now, and know that WE did it!! The light isn't good enough tonight for a completed picture - and we still have to paint our door maroon. But here are some before and afters - the paint color we chose is called masking tape - isn't that a great name for paint??


Before - a light yellow


After - masking tape :)

Welcome to my ghetto scrapbook room.

We recently decided that Emma and Brett could share a room. Emma never played or slept in her room - and it was just a waste of space - not to mention the time spent taking her toys out of Brett's room to put back into hers. After talking it over with them - we made the big move. I was moving from the laundry room/pantry to Emma's old room and Emma was moving into Brett's.

It took quite a while because Brett's closet had been used for storage, so we had to move that stuff into the family room until the pantry was cleared, which couldn't happen until Emma's room was moved and my scrapbook stuff was placed in. Hours later, I finally had the kids's room looking pretty good and I was tired - so went to bed. Started in again bright and early the next day and by that evening - all was where it was supposed to go.

Well, not all. My scrapbooking stuff wouldn't all fit into the storage that I have now - so some of it is in the family room. Mitch wasn't feeling the urge to go get the counter top and shelving for the new "artist" room as Emma calls it. So, for now - we have a ghetto scrapbook room - using a camping table and a card table and whatever else we could re-purpose. It'll do until Mitch feels like being a carpenter.

Here are some pictures, it's not a large room, and as you can see Emma's room theme was butterflies - My MIL and I stamped those when Emma was 6 months old - time flies!! Here you can see Emma's ghetto scrapping table, an old card table and also, you can see that room had to be made for Kahlua too:



Here is my ghetto scrapping table, a folding camping table that isn't too sturdy!



Here is a shelf that DH made in shop in High school, now holding my stamps and miscellaneous stuff.


Here is Emma's old toy cubes, now holding my photo boxes.

So it ain't pretty - but it works for now!

Everybody say it with me now......

[photopress:DSC00071_resize.JPG,full,centered]
AWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!
This is the newest addition to our family (almost). I say almost because she is only a month old and we get to pick her up on the 19th. Brett and Emma were so excited to go and visit her - and we all agreed on the name Kahlua.
[photopress:DSC00075.JPG,full,centered]

You know it's been too long when...

you have to reset your password on your blog to get into the darn thing to write a post!

Oh where does the time go?? This summer is just rushing past. We had such high hopes for this summer, DH had a lot of leave to burn and we planned to get out on our boat a lot - since DH will be gone next summer and won't get to use it. But, the fates had other plans. The boat has been in the shop since the beginning of June. Looks like we might finally get it back next week - in time for Mitch and the kids to go to Lake Cushman camping for a few days while I'm in Chicago. Been a long 6 weeks with out that boat - didn't realize it, but DH is a bit of a pouter ;)

We had a great vacation - even without the boat - Sun Lakes is a great place to go - and we will definitely go again some time - maybe in August - will be especially nice if we have our boat back - because it has a great boat launch!!

Emma lost another tooth, so she is now missing the bottom two. Her Uncle Gary called her Toothless George - so we've been teasing her a bit with that.

We have reserved a puppy! Ever since we went to my sister Janet's house - where she had a new little puppy - the kids have really been asking for another pet. We've had so many dogs that we have adopted and that haven't worked out for one reason or another - they dug, they peed in the house, they got out of the yard etc etc, but DH is sure if we get a puppy we can train it the way we want. So we have reserved a buff colored female Cocker Spaniel. The litter was born on July 2nd, so we will get to bring her home late August when she is 7 weeks old. I hope DH is right!
I do love Cockers though - so I'm kinda looking forward to it and the kids are very excited!!

I leave Wednesday to go stay at a hotel near the Seattle airport and fly out Thursday at the crack o dawn to head to Chicago for CHA! I get to see Felicia, Carole and Jen again and hopefully meet my buddy Bonni. Going to be busy but fun!!

I'll try to update with some CHA sneaks while we are there if I have time!

Ciao!!

Stepping down from the Shanty

I have decided to step down as an owner of Scrap Shanty. Having been involved in owning or admining a board for the last several years - it is time for a breather! With DH being gone, and it being summer time - this is the perfect opportunity to spend more time with the kiddos doing things together as a family.

I'm still gonna hang out at the Shanty - just gonna be regular folk though :)

I've Been Tagged

These are the rules.... each player starts with 7 random facts about themselves on their Blog. People who are tagged need to blog 7 facts about themselves and post the rules as well. At the end of their blog list 7 people you are tagging. Let them know that they are tagged by leaving them a comment. So, time for my 7 random facts:

1. I miss my Mom everyday, especially our early morning phone calls - she was by best friend.
2. I don't like cats, I say I married Mitch because he was allergic and I knew I'd never have to have one.
3. I can add things quickly in my head, by turning them into sets of 10.
4. I love Pepsi and Diet Coke, can't stand Diet Pepsi or Coke.
5. I hate Ham and Beans. When I was young, if I'd come home and they were cooking, I'd leave and go to my sister's house.
6. I was a cheerleader in high school.
7. I have always wanted to own my own bookstore.

I tag Fee, Liz, Lacey, Jill, Jess, Kat, and Cynthia

Accutane

Braeden started on this for his acne - and less than a month later this is the result. No side effects for him so far, other than the dry skin - that is what the 2 red spots on his lip are from - he peeled the skin off - owwwww!!

[photopress:braeden1.jpg,full,centered]

I think it is making a major difference - and wish we had known about it sooner - we sure wasted a lot of time on Pro-Active and Murad and stuff.

Better day

We are having a much better day today - course we didn't leave the house - no use in tempting fate :)

Emma lost her first tooth today, she is so excited and I think she looks so cute with her missing tooth [photopress:emma_tooth.jpg,full,centered]

and the guy who owns the tahoe that Braeden grazed called - and he said he just wanted to thank us for doing the right thing and leaving a note, but not to worry about it, the damage was so minimal and Braeden didn't need it on his record. Woohoo!!! Glad the guy was much more reasonable than his wife. Braeden still has to pay for the damage to his own car - so he'll definitely learn a lesson to be more careful.

Fiasco

Today was a fiasco, almost from start to finish. I am so glad to be putting this day to bed.

Mitch and I decided to take the boat out, the boys didn't want to go - so they opted to stay home. We headed to the Marinia, to find that all the boat/trailer parking was full. Another guy was getting ready to launch - so we asked him about parking - he was LESS than friendly and just blew us off. Then when we saw where he parked - we knew why. He just made his own spot in the overflow area against the curb, and didn't want us taking his spot. But the way our day was going - we'd have gotten a ticket had we tried :)

So Mitch is having a hissy fit - in the way only Mitch can - cussing, veins popping - really just a tantrum - it is stunning to watch ;) So I calmly tell him, no worries - launch the boat - I'll take the truck/trailer home and Braeden can bring me back - we are less than 10 minutes from the marine - no biggie. So he finally agrees to that, hops in the boat to back it down the boat launch ramp - and is too far over and is going to hit a pole. I am franticly waving at him, but he isn't seeing me - so I holler at him STOP! Well that sends him along on another hissy fit, pissed off because it was embarassing to have me yell at him. To which I calmly replied - well I think it would be more embarassing to back the boat into the pole.

So, I run the boat/trailer home and Braeden is bringing me back and I'm dialing Mitch's cell, and it keeps going to voice mail and I am getting mad. He knew I was gonna call him to let him know to pick me up - why isn't he answering?? I tell Braeden, well he isn't answering maybe he sunk the boat. When I get to the marina Mitch calls my cell and tells me that the boat is taking on water (oops guess I should have kept my mouth shut!), not much but some, and he is using the towels to mop it up. So we decide to go ahead and go out and just take it easy, and Mitch plays with the engine, tighteing clamps etc - trying to fix the slow leak. Nothing works. So we decide it is time to head home, call Braeden to come pick me up. We get to the visitor moorage area at the marina, and as we are pulling in - there are 2 dogs tied to a boat. One is inside the boat, the other is on the swim deck and falls into the water and is trying to keeps its head above water - but can't get onto the boat because of the rope. So I holler for help and another guy comes and rescues the dog. So I walk to the Portmasters office to report it. As I get there, here comes Braeden - ticked cause I wasn't waiting for him and I say well it isn't my fault a dog almost drowned and I had to help it. To which he replies - I hit someones car parking. WHAT???
So I try calling Mitch's cell - no answer. We go look at the vehicle - not much damage - just paint transfer. But we dutifully leave a note with our insurance information and phone number. I'm trying to call Mitch - still no answer. I'm ticked he isn't answering, then it finally dawns on me - I've been calling his office instead of his cell. DOH!!

I finally get back to the Marina with the boat/trailer and there is someone at the boat ramp and Mitch is heading in with the boat. The guy at the ramp needs a jump - so I help him pull his boat to the ramp, his wife goes and gets jumper cables and we jump start his boat and he goes on his way and we finally get out of the water. Good thing it was a SLOW leak.

We get home and the lady has called about her Tahoe that Braeden grazed, saying she was calling about the vehicle that our son hit. So we call her back and she says she thinks the bumper might need replaced and they have a shop they take it to and will call us next week. Bumper replaced??? It was paint transfer on the quarter panel - why would the bumper need replaced?? So we are bummed that in trying to teach Braeden to do the right thing, the only lesson he will probably learn is that people will try to screw insurance companies.

I'm going to bed and hoping that tomorrow will be a better day and hoping I can get that song out of my head "You had a bad day..."

WW Part 2

Well I weighed myself today, and I am holding steady. Not gaining and not loosing. I'm just glad that I'm not gaining - as I know that my eating habits the last couple of weeks haven't been the greatest. Having that piece of carrot cake last night didn't help either ;)

Rude

We invited a guy that Mitch works with and his family over for a BBQ today. Mitch told them anytime between noon and 1. At 12:30 we get a phone call that they had heard that Home Depot was having a sale on grills - and they wanted to go get one. They finally showed up at about 4pm. They had gone shoe shopping and some other errands. I just found this to be very rude.

Grrr. That is my pet peeve - being late and I was not a happy camper.

Too funny

Braeden has been struggling with acne for a couple years - it has really been bad this past year. We have tried prescription face stuff, Proactive, Murad - it all helps for a little bit - but then nothing. We had a consult with the dermatologist to see about Braeden going on Accutane - a prescription acne medication that is supposed to work wonders. I was thinking that we should take before photos, because a lot of times you forget and don't really "see" the difference as it is gradual. So I mentioned it to Braeden that we should take a before photo, and he got this horrified look on his face and said "Mom, you are NOT scrapbooking my acne." I started laughing so hard, cause I hadn't even thought of that.

How Stressed are You?

Took this little quiz - and I'd have to say that this is dead on accurate for me :)

Your Stress Level is: 55%



You are somewhat prone to stress, especially when life gets hard.
When things are good, you resist stressing over little problems.
But when things are difficult, you tend to freak out and find it hard to calm down.

How Stressed Are You?

Mothers Day

Today is Mothers Day - and Emma made me a very nice card, with a coupon for 30 hugs, which she promptly gave me. Brett made me a ceramic heart necklace and a nicely decorated padded envelope to put it in. Braeden forgot, but did make me a card on the computer. Mitch fixed a nice breakfast and dinner and tried his best to make it a great day. In all honesty though, since my Mom passed away a couple years ago - I could care less if there we a Mothers Day. I know that isn't fair to my kids, and I try and keep up a happy front. I don't know why it bothers me so much - but it does - it is just flat. I hope that it is just part of the grieving process and eventually I will care again. I hope.

Happy Mothers day to everyone.

Isn't this the cutest thing?

Emma and I made this using the Doodlebug Plain & Simple Chipboard house and the Scrap Addict Emma Pie SDJ. We had so much fun making it. Emma picked what papers went where and I did the cutting and pasting. Only problem I have, is that it must be a tad humid - and some of the adhesive that was on the house isn't staying stuck. But every so often, I give the little roof a pat - and it sticks again for awhile :)

Weigh In

Today I weighed in, after a week of being on WW, and trying to stay within my daily points. I am proud to say that I have lost 5 pounds! I haven't been eating great - but I have been staying within my points range. If not my daily - then I am definitely not using all the extra weekly ones. So yeah me!!

Septic Woes - long and boring.

We have to pay $250 a year to carry an Operation and Maintenance contract on our type of septic system. The county Health Department requries it. So for the past 6 years, we have paid - they have come out once a year to check the system and then submit a report to the Health Department. We get a copy of that report in the mail along with an invoice for the next years contract. No problems until this year. The company that carried our contract Indigo Design - found descrepencies in our system and didn't bother to call us or send us a letter about them or anything. All they did was submit the report to the Health Department and give us a copy - along with an invoice for the upcoming years contract. When I contacted them - the receiptionist was LESS than helpful. I asked her what the report meant, as we didn't understand some of their verbiage - and she replied that is what written the way the Health Department required it and they would know what it meant. I then asked her what we could do to fix the descrepancies before the Health Department came out - and she offered to email me pictures of the system - hello - it is in my back yard - I can walk out there and see it for myself - what good will pictures do me? I then pressed a bit more for what was required by us to bring it back up to code for the health department - to which she replied that it looked like an animal had been digging in our septic mound - and she couldn't tell me how to kill a mole. And that we seemed to be using too much water - and she couldn't tell me how to cut back on our water useage. Totally less than helpful right? So a couple weeks later - the health department shows up at my door and he takes a look at our system and tells me it is failing - first one of this type in the 15 years he has been in the business that he has seen fail - (lucky us!) but not to worry because they have low interest loans for up to $20,000. YIKES. So he leaves, we get a certified letter in the mail from the Health Department - stating that our system is a public health hazard and within 30 days we have to file a repair plan and obtain a permit to pump the septic or they will charge us $513 per day until we do. So we immediately start calling contractors who repair these systems - no one calls back. We finally hook up with Zimmer Construction - and Steve comes out and looks at the mounds and tells us that they aren't failing - they look good - he fills in the hole the animal dug- but that our system is running high - so we should monitor our water useage. He says he can bring the mounds to the new code - and it'll cost about $1000. So we are breathing a bit easier - that is a lot less than $20K! Phil at Zimmer says we don't have to put a repair plan in at the cost of $1200, that they just file some other thing with the county and it will be fine. The guy from the Health Department says that is true and we think everthing is swimming along fine. Phil suggests that since we aren't re-contracting with Indigo that we write to the county and let them know that as soon as the repairs are finished we will sign with a new Operations & Maintenance Contract provider. So I write and let the county know - and they respond with a certified letter telling me that I am in violation and to get a new Operations and Maintenance contract provider within 30 days or they are going to fine me $513. In order to get a new provider, they have to inspect our system - if it is not up to par - they won't take the contract - but the Health Department is unsympathetic to our tale of woe - so off we go to find a new O&M contract provider. Sigh. I then get my estimate from Zimmer construction in the mail - it is not the $1000 we were told verbally - in fact it is closer to $5000 and I am ready to stroke out. %5000 to fix a system that is operating correctly and doesn't have a problem - WTF? The new O&M contract guy shows up to inspect the system shortly after that - and he tells us that the system is functioning correctly but that running high. We fill him in on our septic saga - and he says that we don't need to do anything to the system - it is working fine. So he is going to go to bat with the county for us - and we will see what the bare minimum is that we need to do to satisfy the county. If my system were truly a public health hazard - I would pay whatever to bring it back to working order. But I see no need to pay that much when it is due to the incompetence of the previous O&M provider and an overzealous HD worker. So now we are in the wait and see mode - hopefully this will get resolved soon. Sigh.

Some more scrappin;

A layout of my sweetie Emma Pie - using the Scrap Addict Kit named after her - the Emma Pie SDJ. Oh and I keep forgetting to say that this is based on Sheila's sketch.


Using the Junkitz Extreme Boy line - LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this stuff. Picture of my 3 boys - have to laugh though - cause one of those "boys" is my husband - but I think some people think they are actually all my kids :)

Weight Watchers

I am starting my weight watchers again today. Signed up online to use their e-tools. I tried in November of 2005 to go to their meetings - and that was a bust. But I see that I have put on 13 pounds since then - so I have got to do something to get this under control. My buddy Jen is going to be my cyber partner in this. Wish us luck!

Finally time to scrap...

Mitch left for New Mexico yesterday, and I finally have some time to scrap - yeah me. I got a few layouts done that I really like (click on the layout for credits )
[photopress:boything_1.jpg,full,centered][photopress:halloween.jpg,full,centered][photopress:daddysgirl.jpg,full,centered][photopress:lilprincess.jpg,full,centered]
and then one that I wasn't super happy with[photopress:shades1.jpg,full,centered] for some reason the title just wasn't sitting well with me - but I decided to move on for a bit. I then tried to put together 2 other layouts from that kit and they came crashing down around my ears - so I've decided to put that kit away for awhile - but on the bright side - while playing with the 2 crash and burn layouts, I came across the perfect fix for my title dilemma[photopress:shades.jpg,full,centered]. I changed to lime Chip Chatter from Pressed Petals - I think it is much more fun and fits the overall color scheme. So I guess that is the silver lining of my 2 disasters :) Look on the bright side - right?

New Washing Machine

Did you know that a typical top loading washing machine uses 40-55 gallons of water PER load?? I sure didn't. But, we have been having a bit of trouble with our septic running high - due to our water usage - and this seems to be a big culprit. We do 3 loads every other day - so that is a lot of water.

So, Mitch and I did some research, and found the cheapest, most water efficient front loading washing machine that Consumer Reports recommends. They delivered it and I've run a few loads - WOW. It spins the clothes almost dry - is so quiet - and on average front loading washing machines use 12-25 gallons of water per load. Big water savings!!

Spa Day

I had a spa day yesterday. Well really, Emma and I had a spa day :) I had to take her to the doctor, for another consult about her sty - and now she is being referred to the opthamology clinic. After that - we headed over to Mimi's Nail Salon, and I had a full set of acrylics put on and a pedicure. Emma got some silver sparkly nail polish put on - she was in heaven. Then we went over to Third Dimension Salon - and while Emma was getting her hair trimmed - I got my eyebrows and lip waxed :) Then we went to lunch. Quite a nice day.

Later, I went to Desert Sun Tanning Salon and did the Mystic tan. The spray on stuff. Kinda weird to stand in a booth and have a tan sprayed on ya. But it looked good and Mitch was so impressed with my "tan". LOL.

I wouldn't go and do nails and tans and stuff if it weren't for Mitch - he loves that stuff - so I keep it up for him.

Take Me Out to the Ball Park

We bought tickets from the Elementary School for Salute to Kid's day at Safeco Field, where the Seattle Mariners baseball team plays. I was super excited to go, as I haven't been to a Mariners game since I was a kid, and that was WAY before the new stadium.

We parked a couple blocks away from the field, and walked. Emma stopped at one point and started jumping up and down and pointing while hollering "A Taxi, A Taxi". Poor little country bumpkin had never seen an actual taxi - lol.

We also stopped and saw Waterfall Gardens, this beautiful waterfall garden [photopress:waterfall.gif,full,centered] Gorgeous!!

Emma and Brett couldn't wait to buy souvenirs and also Emma had to have a pretzel and Brett wanted a hot dog. The weather was gorgeous and we all had a great time.

[photopress:kids.gif,full,centered]

The Point Defiance Zoo

My sister Janet and her daughter Serene came over and spent Spring Break with us. The weather was great, the kids got along so well that I was wishing they could just stay forever :) We went to the zoo in Tacoma, the weather was pushing 80 and we got some gorgeous photos and had a great time.

It's all fun and games...

It was a beautiful day, and we took the opportunity to go to the community beach in our neighborhood. Emma collected shells, Braeden, Mitch and Brett threw the football and I took pictures.

It's all fun and games until ...


someone throws the ball and someone else doesn't catch it and it goes into the Puget Sound. Brett was devastated and even telling him we would get him another ball didn't stop the tears.

Fortunately for us the tide was coming in, and it brought the ball back around
[photopress:theball.jpg,full,centered] and Brett waited not so patiently for it to come back to shore, and big brother Braeden saved the day - by wading out into the cold water to retrieve the ball.


[photopress:thesave.jpg,full,centered]

And we all went home happy!

St. Patrick's Day

I bought Brett and Emma special St. Patrick's Day t-shirts - because Brett complained that last year even though he wore green, he still got pinched. So Emma got a white t-shirt with a green rhinestone outlined 4 leaf clover on it (perfect for little miss bling) and Brett got one with a big green 4 leaf clover on it that said - You're lucky I'm not your kid. They couldn't wait to wear them on St. Patrick's day - only one catch - I forgot its on Saturday this year - lol.

But the kids didn't care - Emma popped out of bed and said "I'm going to go get my St. Patrick's day shirt on", they both wore them and loved them - even though it didn't work out quite like Mom had planned.

Scrappin' Mojo

Well the FSB let me have some of my Scrappin Mojo back. Not all mind you - but I'm happy with some :)

Here are some layouts I just finished making for the Winter Blahs crop over at Scrap Addict.




I love scrapping with Scrap Addict kits and sketches - makes getting photos onto paper so quick and fun!!

Emma Pie

Well, little Emma Pie is now on antibiotics for an ear infection. I think the reason her eye looked so bad is that the erythromycin eye ointment they gave us for the pink eye was irritating her eye. The dr says the pink eye is all gone, and that the sty should just resolve on its own, but that she has an ear infection, so he'll give her antibiotics that will fight the ear infection and hopefully the sty too.

Emma is just ready to go back to school - she's over the spending the day with Mom thing!!

Pink eye and a sty

Poor pitiful Emma, she has had a sty for awhile now. But on Friday she also developed pink eye - so off to the dr we went. Put her on some eye ointment twice a day. So have been putting that in, along with using warm compresses and massage to try and get the sty to go away. So Saturday she starts complaining of ear pain - but no fever - so just give her motrin. I think her eye is looking worse, not better - but keep up with the treatments. Saturday the pink eye shows up in her other eye - argh and we'd been so careful too. Keep giving her the meds. Her ear still bothers her, so keep her home on Monday, even though she is crying to go to school. Monday night she starts to run a real low grade fever and complain of her ear hurting. This morning - we get up and baby girl looks like THIS

Kiwanis Hoop Champs

Braeden's team not only won the league championships - they also won the Kiwanis tournament. They all played really well and worked really hard - I'm proud of them. I hope that if Braeden plays again next year - he can play for the same coach, I think Shane really taught Braeden a lot this year and helped make him more focused and aggressive as a player.

You Can't Fix Stupid

I bought Mitch this CD for Valentines day - he loves Ron White. Ron White is funny! He cusses too much, he drinks and smokes while onstage - but all that aside - the man is just funny!

If you get a chance to watch his specials or listen to the CD - do it! Listening to him tell how you can't fix stupid makes my day :)

My Little Artist

Emma brought home this picture. They traced the frog onto watercolor paper, and then colored it with watercolor paints. I love it! I think, like Carrie suggested, I'm going to frame it. The frog is just too cute to not look at everyday!!

Cyber Crop Central

Scrapaddict is having a Winter Blahs Cyber Crop starting on March 9th and going through March 18th. There will lots of challenges and chatting and some prizes too - it is going to be major fun!

I've been feeling a bit crowded in my scrapbook nook as a result of all the shopping :) - so I have moved my scrapping area temporarily out to the dining room. DH will be gone to Arizona to visit his Dad for 5 days - so it won't bother him - and I'll have room to spread out and scrap :)

Here is a picture of Cyber Crop Central:

Snow

While it is weird to get snow here - it is certainly beautiful - especially in all the trees we have around our house. It's all gone now, but we have pictures to remind us.



This is the big tree that is in our backyard.

WWW

No, that doesn't stand for world wide web, but for Weird Washington Weather. February 28th and we have snow - and March 1st, it is snowing again and it is 38 degrees outside. That is unreal. What is going on with our weather lately? We have had more wind and snow and ice than I can ever remember having before.

I mean, really, we are at sea level here - and for us to get 5 inches of snow is about unheard of, especially when higher elevations around us didn't get that much. Weird Washington Weather. I am ready for spring - bring it.

Too much time on their hands or...

Mitch just sent me this photo - I have no clue how, when, where or why. Guess he is now Buzz Light Beer.

They are working insane hours, you wouldn't think they have too much time on their hands - maybe they have gone insane.

I've moved my blog

Come visit me at: http://scrapshanty.com/Kim/blog

I've been blogging over there for about a month - while I got it all set up - sorry I didn't post here too.

We are the Champions!

Braeden is playing on the Parks & Recreation League again this year. The last 2 years has been very frustrating for him, because while he had nice coaches, they never seemed to win. This year, he has another nice coach, and a great group of kids on the team - and they have won all but 1 of their games, and that one ended up not counting because the other team had *illegal* players on their team. So, officially they are undefeated. They are the Parks & Recreation Champions - and they have the t-shirts to prove it.



Funny part to this story, is just before they were presented with these tshirts - they played an unofficial games against the #2 team in the league - and got their hats handed to them - 49-29.

Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band

Mitch and I went to this concert last night. It was great! He is promoting his new album - Face the Promise. Some good new songs on the album - we are planning on buying it. He also sang some oldies that really brought back some teenage memories.

But man, we are getting old - it was sooo loud. I would have enjoyed it more with earplugs. Especially the opening act Steve Azar - he was so loud you couldn't understand the words to the song.

Also, someone was smoking pot during the concert - think maybe we got a little buzz off the secondhand smoke. That takes a lot of guts to light up at a concert like that. If I were the one doing it, I'd be sitting next to a police officer or something.

It was great to see all ages and walks of life there - and people were really into the songs - up and dancing and singing along. We had a good time, and left with our ears ringing.

Friends

I'm lucky to have good friends that love me and know when I need chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Look what I got for Valentines Day from 2 of them. (the tin is full of various Hershey chocolates)

Aren't friends grand?

Happy Valentines Day!

Boy did I get a big surprise for Valentines Day!! I got a Sony a100 SLR Digital Camera.




As previously mentioned in my blog the Olympus digital camera I had has been nothing but a problem since I got it, so Mitch bought me this. He said that I deserved it, if for nothing more than all the laundry I do :)

Now, to learn how to take pictures with it. It is sort of intimidating - guess I'd better head to the library and see what I can find. Anyone have any recommendations?

*&%$*(#@( Camera!!!!

I absolutely HATE my digital camera and I feel so guilty saying that. I have tried to love it, truely I have. I love the man that gave it to me for Christmas 2005, thinking he had done bought me such a great gift, and so excited to give it to me, and I feel bad that I have not liked this camera from the moment I got it. It has such a slow shutter speed, that it was no great improvement over my old Sony Cybershot. And, it has already had to go in for repairs - since the zoom went out and wouldn't go back in. And now THIS......

[photopress:sucks.jpg,full,centered]

NO, that isn't some filter I was trying out. That is the way that my camera has been taking pictures on and off for the last week or so. Aaaargh - I can tell that I am going to have to ship this camera off to Olympus again to be fixed. I hope it is still under warranty. Mitch is so mad at himself for buying this POS, and I know he was really trying to get me something he thought I'd like. I promise - after it comes back from Olympus - I will try really hard again to love it.

MSP 2nd Annual Retreat

I am so looking forward to this. Although I think that I have upset some people by my unwillingness to go to Virginia - LOL. I'll actually go wherever the majority votes to go. I'm not a total tyrant. I hate that something that was supposed to be so fun, has just about sunk our very active Yahoo group. I am hoping that we can work through it and get back to being a fun and caring group again - not sure how to make that happen though.

I am hoping that the retreat gets to be in San Antonio. Jen is moving there - and it is someplace that I have always wanted to go. So whether we get together for the retreat there or not - I will be be making a trip to San Antonio, Mitch went to San Antonio last year for work - and got some really cruddy pictures - so I definitely need better ones, and of course I need to see Jen again!!

A Reader

I always knew that Emma was going to be a reader. Every since she was just little she has loved picking up magazines, books and catalogs and "reading" them.

Today, she brought me the book "Hop on Pop" and read the whole thing. I was so surprised. I know her teacher said she was ready - but I didn't think she'd be so fluent so quickly!! I'm a proud Mommy.

Wiped Out!

I am so wiped out - didn't even get out of bed today until late. My trip to Anaheim for CHA was great!! Getting to meet the gals from Scrap Addict; Fee, The Nana, Julie, Liz and see Karen again - was so much fun. I stayed with Fee and Nana's friends Peggy and Cathy and they were so welcoming and wonderful - I appreciated them taking a total stranger into their home.

Fee and The Nana are so much fun to be around. I needed their laughter - and boy did we laugh!! I will never be able to look at a kitten **aka feral puppy cat** without thinking of them. We shopped, we ate, we worked our asses off at CHA, we laughed and talked and formed a friendship that I know I will value forever. Thanks for listening to my tale of woe, and providing such great comfort and advice :)

Of course, since I'm such an enabler - Fee had to be just like me and buy matching bra and panties **aka Mary Ann's** and also a thumb ring just like the one I bought. Was so nice to have the gal at Build a Bear ask us if we were sisters :) Sorry I told her you were my boss ;)

I'm just starting to get back in the swing of things - working hard on getting all the fabulous product that Fee bought for Scrap Addict up in the store - so I can prove that I'm more than just a pretty face *snort*.

I Hurt.

I found out something last night that hurt. Hurt to the core. Shook me to my foundations, made me question everything. And so, I hurt. Time heals all - and that is what this will take - time.

I am fortunate to have a good friend, who reached out to me when I needed her. She didn't have any wise words of wisdom for me, but just hearing her voice on the phone and having her listen - meant the world to me. Thanks Larry for being there.

Go Speed Racer Go!

Horrible day today - nothing seemed to go right. Mitch woke up in a bad mood, Braeden missed the bus. Mitch left me his truck so I could take the recycling and trash to the dump, because it didn't make it to the curb for pick up and was full, and I had a list a mile long of errands to do to get ready for my trip to California.

So, I make Braeden wait until after Brett catches the bus for school, we go to the dump and get rid of the garbage and recyclables, and I'm on my way to drop Braeden off at school. At a time I'm never out, in a truck I don't usually drive, on a road I'm never on - and I get pulled over for speeding.

The motorcycle cop was coming towards me, and he says at the bottom of the hill, he had me at 55 mph in a 35mph zone - $173 ticket. I don't believe for a minute that I was going that fast - but can't really argue with the cop. Also, I had been after Mitch for about a month or more to put his new insurance card in the truck - it was stuck on the refrigerator - and he didn't. So I also got cited for No Insurance - even though I explained to the cop about the insurance card - that's a $538 ticket. But the ever so nice (notice the sarcasm there) motorcyle cop said that would be easy to get dismissed if I showed them my insurance card.

So, anyway, I'm fighting the ticket. I put down that I agree that I sped, but there were mitigating circumstances. I thought the speed limit was 40 and I am sure I wasn't going any faster than 45. So I agree I sped - but there is no way that I was going 55.
So wish me luck - I haven't had a ticket for almost 20 years. Don't want one now!!

Hooray!!

My good friend and fabulous scrapper friend Jen got invited to join the Scrap Addict design team today. Check out her gallery, I'm sure you will be wowed too!

Jen is a talented scrapper and I wish I had her handwriting. When we met in Texas last November, I even had her write my journaling for me on this layout

A layout I actually Love

It is fairly rare for me to do a layout - and say that I love it. But I do love this layout. Doesn't use a sketch for a change, but as usual uses a great Scrap Addict kit - Lavendar Blue. I made this layout as part of a challenge on Scrap Addict to scrap a not so happy photo. I altered the photo to b/w but left her eyes blue.

DT Payback Challenge

Some of the members of the Design Team, who shall remain nameless, but who's initals are JulieP and LindaS, decided that since our Challenge Goddess Catherine was coming up on 50,000 posts - in honor of that - we should have a month long challenge for her - and come up with some very creative and comfort zone stretching challenges. In true Catherine fashion, she excelled at every challenge we gave her - and even had time to think up a DT Payback Challenge. In true payback fashion, she zeroed in on each of our weaknesses - and gave us a challenge.

My challenge was to create a 2 page girly layout with lots of bling. So, since I have the perfect subject for that - I give you
my DT Payback Challenge -

Drama

I run a yahoo group for Military Wives - and there has been DRAMA with all caps this last couple of days. I am saddened to see this, as I thought of most of these gals as friends even though we haven't met. And it all started over a swap, and I stuck up for someone, who then turned around an basically knifed me in the back. Hard to deal with the reality that even though you know someone for 4 years over the internet, and talk with them on the phone, and exchange Christmas cards, that they can declare you useless to them when you no longer serve their purposes.

I guess some of the DRAMA stems from jealousy. I suggested a get together trip for whoever could come, and 5 of us got together and met up in Texas. Evidentally that left some that weren't able to go, feeling left out, and comments were made to the effect that if you didn't go to the retreat - you didn't matter. Which was so untrue, and unfair that it left me speechless. Any time people get together IRL there will be things that are understood and laughed about between them, an inside joke so to say, but that doesn't mean that they are trying to exclude anyone and I thought that adults would understand that.

Mitch says that DRAMA is why women will never rule the world.

Again with the power

Man, I am so tired of this wonky weather that we have been having and also the power outages.
We have lost power over half a dozen times in the last year, and most of them have been in the last couple of months.

Mitch came home last night and was making his specialty dinner, BBQ Chicken Pizza, and right in the middle of it all, the power went out. Fortunately, since I had prepared for the "big storm" a few days ago, it was nothing but a thing to hook the generator up and continue with business as usual. The power was only out for about 2 hours - thank goodness - because our temperatures never got above 30 all day yesterday and we weren't looking forward to being without power for a long time in these temps.



On a funnier note, Emma got a little kit that had slippers and a matching sleeping mask that you could decorate. She was so excited to add her little sequins and baubles to her sleeping mask and pestered until Grandma Sandy finally helped her decorate it. Now, she hardly goes a night without wearing it. That child is the only one I know that will wear a stocking hat (for a night cap) her sweater, her slippers and a sleeping mask to bed. She is so cute though, Mitch has decided that he will start to call her Lovey, after Mrs. Howell on Gilligans Island :)

CHA Winter

Felicia had asked me to go to CHA Winter in Anaheim the end of January, and initially I was going to go, and get to meet Felicia and my pal Bonni. Then Mitch came home and informed me that he had Security Managers school in Yuma during that time frame - so government wins over scrapbooking - and I had to back out.

Mitch came home Wednesday and told me that his trip had been cancelled. So, my trip to CHA Winter is back on!! I get to meet Felicia, The Nana, Julie B., and Liz. Bonni won't be there though :( Will also get to see Karen H. again, plus all the new scrapbooking goodies! I know it is going to be lots of hard work - but I'm excited!!

Ice Ice Baby

Well, that dabble of snow we got last night, froze up good and hard overnight and made for some slippery weather. Kids were on a 2 hour delay for school. Which meant that once again, Brett's field trip was cancelled - he's so disappointed.

Our power went out this morning just before the kids were due to go on the bus, I called the school and they had power - so I sent the kidlets off. I went to work and by the time I got home our power was back on.

I am tired of talking about our weather all the time - but I lead a boring life, what can I say :)
Here is a little WA weather trivia - from Nov 1 2006 to today, we have received 75% of our usual years worth of precipitation. Yikes!

Me - 1 Storm - 0

Well being prepared definitely works for throwing the weather off. We had a tad bit of hail, and a bit of a breeze, but that was it. Definitely not the arctic storm they have been predicting. The kids are on a 2 hour delay for school, due to icy roads. It did begin to snow this afternoon around 3pm but tapered off to nothing by 4:30 and it didn't stick.

Kids still wanted to go out and play in the teaspoonful that was on the ground. But since they have had colds the last couple of days and this is their first day back to school - that was a definite no.

The weatherman is now saying it is going to be 22 here tonight and could be icy conditions tomorrow. I hope it doesn't cause any problems with school. Brett's class has a field trip to see Charlotte's web, which was cancelled once already because of school being cancelled due to bad weather. I hope we will actually get to go this time - I'm chaperoning!!

Preparing for the Storm

Well, once again they are forecasting snow - up to 5" and winds up to 45mph. I don't really believe that it will be as bad as they are saying - but I decided that if I was prepared it wouldn't hit, and if I wasn't it would. So, in the interest of trying to thwart the weather. I got prepared

• Gas for generator - check
• Generator in from shed - check
• Extension cords in from shed - check
• Crock pot dinner cooking - check
• Extra water - check
• Flashlights and batteries - check
• Called Mitch to bring home the propane heater - check
• Storm - ??
• Wind - ???

So we'll see.

SA Blog Challenge Week 2

1. I've come to realize that my life is... average.
2. I am listening to... the fan on the heater.
3. I talk... before I think.
4. I love... to read.
5. My best friends... are people I've never met
6. Love is... unconditional.
7. Somewhere, someone is thinking... that they are worse off than me.
8. I'll always ... miss my Mom.
9. The last time I cried was because... of a dream I had about my Mom.
10. My cell phone... rarely rings.
11. Before I go to bed... I kiss my kids goodnight.
12. Right now I am thinking about... Emma not feeling good and staying home with me today.
13. Today I... will take down my Christmas decorations and tree.
14. Tonight I will... spend time with my family.
15. Tomorrow I will be... at work.

Testing

Trying to switch my blog over to WordPress on my own site, and get the comments and posts transferred. Way tricky process - alot easier if I had done it prior to "new" blogger. Got the posts across, but lost all the comments - so have to see if it is worth it.

Scrappy Slump

Man, I was looking at my gallery over at Scrap Addictand I haven't uploaded anything since the layouts I did when I went to Texas to meet up for a scrapping weekend with my MSP peeps. That is a long scrappy slump.

I did scrap one page - but lately I just feel like all my stuff is so bland. No spark. I wish there was some way I could get the FSB to bring back my scrapping mojo. I'm going to declare tomorrow a scrapping day, and try and work on some challenges - maybe that will help kickstart me into scrapping again. I miss it.

Wind and rain again, oh my!

Well, Catherine, the challenge Goddess and Mother Rap n Scrap over at Scrap Addict, got the DT members back for giving her a month of challenges during December by giving us each a challenge that was tailor made for our weaknesses or dislikes.

My challenge is to do a 2 page girly layout complete with bling, or a layout about living in the PNW and losing power all the time.

Well, once again we are in a High Wind warning - and our power could go out. But I am looking on the bright side - if it does at least it is a photo opportunity for photos for my challenge from Catherine.

Licensed driver

Braeden is officially a licensed driver. He passed his test with a 92. You only need 80 to pass. I was amazed that the road test is only 10 minutes long. Braeden was calm cool and collected and I was a total basketcase.

Mitch was the basketcase later though when Braeden went out on his first solo drive. It was very funny to see him with his nose pressed to the glass of the front window, looking to see if Braeden had made it home yet.

I didn't get but one picture - but I do have his test slip and his fee stub from paying the $25 for his license. So I guess I can do a layout with that.

Doesn't seem like I should be old enough to have a child that has his license. I remember getting mine and it doesn't seem likethat was so long ago LOL.

Anniversary Surprise

Yesterday was our 19th anniversary, and Mitch surprised me with an overnight stay at the Clearwater Casino Resort.

We had a nice lunch at Casa Luna mexican restaurant, rented some movies to watch in our room, and went to the casino for a bit. Luck was with Mitch, and he played for a long time on his initial $20. Out of boredom, I lost quite a bit of money LOL.

When we checked into our room, they had a nice anniversary card and a bottle of champagne waiting for us. Their beds are soo comfortable, with yummy down pillows and comforters. We watched My Super-Ex Girlfriend and MI3.

Was very nice and quiet. Nice to spend some quality alone time with Mitch. Braeden kept the kids, with the neighbors on stand by, if the kids needed anything. Fortunately the were fine, other than missing Mom and Dad.

Annette's Scrap Addict Blog Challenge #1

Q: What do you want to accomplish for YOURSELF this year? What are you goals or dreams? What are you most looking forward to? Give us a prediction of how you see your life going in 2007

A: This year I would like to be the year of family and making healthy choices. I see us spending a lot of time together as a family, including spending a good portion of the summer on the boat, as we store up family times in anticipation of Mitch's year long deployment to Bahrain in 2008. I would also like to learn more about making healthy nutritional choices for myself and the family that results in meals we will all eat and a healthier lifestyle for us all.

Emma and her card trick

Emma came up to me with 5 playing cards in her hand, and wanted to show me a card trick. "Mom, pick a card, any card" so I choose one. Then she says "Okay, now tell me which cards are still in my hand!" Nice card trick - right? LOL.

Today is the 19th anniversary of the day I married my most wonderful DH. He has something exciting planned (his words) but he won't tell me what. I do know that Braeden's basketball practice getting switched to tonight put a crimp in his plans, but he said he could adapt. I'll let you all know what the excitement was!

Blogger Blogger

Why can't I keep up? Why do I have this wonderful little place to record things about my day, little snippits of kiddo wisdom that I don't want to forget, and not use it?

Probably because I have become the PRINCESS OF PROCRASTINATION. I didn't use to be like this, I blame it on Bonni - the QUEEN OF PROCRASTINATION. And since Bonni and I have never met in person it has rubbed off via the internet. Yup, that's my story and I'm sticking to it - I blame Bonni ;)

So, my resolution for the new year, is to come and blog at least twice a week. I will put it on the list along with my other resolutions, but below my biggest resolution - DO NOT PROCRASTINATE!

Behind!

Once again - I'm way behind on blogging. No excuses - just other priorities. I'll have to do some catching up:)

Things here have been going fairly well - if fairly wet. We have had lots of rain in the last week and 2 power outages. The first one lasted 14 hours, and finally tipped Mitch over the edge into buying a generator. Hooray! The last one only lasted 8 hours - but we were happing "generating" our own power - so didn't faze us in the least.

Course, boys and their toys - Mitch couldn't have a regular ole off the shelf generator - he had to have a Honda generator. Judging from the price - they are the Ferrari of generators. I do like it though, it is very quite, light and portable. Also I guess it generates clean power - so I could power the computer with it if I needed to.

The kids did really well in their school conferences. All of them got good grades. Emma is ready to read, according to her teacher, so her and a few other students will be starting on reading - and will have different homework than the other kids. She is so excited - and so am I.

We got the kids' school pictures back - they all turned out good.
Emma needs a haircut, which she has since gotten, courtesy of Mom
Look at that big smile on Brett's face - he is such a cheerful child, and even got a cheerfulness award at school.
Braeden thinks this is his best school photo ever - it is pretty good


Been busy working on rolodex cards for a swap that I'm in. I scraplifted design elements from a couple different ones that I saw on the web - I really like how they turned out. They are using the Cowgirl papers from Crate. I had to make 2 different sizes, so they are a bit different. The one with rounded corners is the standard size, and the other is 3 X 5.

Sweet Sixteen

My oldest son Braeden turned 16 today. I can't believe that I am the Mother of a 16 year old boy. Here he is on his birthday - just after reading over 20 plus emails that my internet friends sent him wishing him Happy Birthday!



He thought it was pretty cool to get those emails, and he even wrote back and said thanks - makes a Momma proud.

Here he is with his birthday present



We originally bought this car for me, then Mitch has used it as a commuter car, and now we have given it to Braeden. It is a 1994 Honda Accord with 150k miles on it. I think it is a pretty decent first car. Of course, Braeden already has ideas on how he is going to trick it out! He got his first taste of car ownership when I handed him the notice that the tabs are due to expire November 1st! ROFL at the expression on his face. We told him we would help him with maintenance, but he is responsible for his insurance, gas and tabs.

Course, now he just needs to go and take the test for his license. I think that will probably happen next week. I'm excited and nervous at the same time.

Tagged again!

K - my friend Jen tagged me in an effort to get me to update my blog :)

The rules:
1. List 5 weird things about yourself or your pets.
2. Tag 5 friends and list them.
3. Those people need to write on their blogs about 5 weird things, and state the rules, and tag 5 more people.
4. Don’t forget to let the people you tag know by posting a comment on their blog!

Sheesh, and I think everyone knows my weird things already - but here goes

1. I HATE feet. Except for kids feet ages 6 and under.
2. I don't like people touching my face.
3. I have to sleep with one foot out of the covers.
4. I only like Milk Chocolate
5. I always sit with one of my feet underneath me.

So there it is my boring weirdness is now out in blogville :)

And again, I'm not tagging anyone - just because.

Tagged

Okay, I was tagged by Lacey and Bonni - so I am finally getting around to doing this.

List seven songs you are into right now. No matter what the genre, whether or not they have words, or even if they’re not any good, but they must be songs you’re really enjoying now. Post these instructions in your LiveJournal/blog along with your seven songs. Then tag seven other people to see what they’re listening to.

1. Chasing Cars/Snow Patrol
2. Hip Don't Lie/ Shakira featuring Wyclef Jean
3. Like Red on the Rose/ Alan Jackson
4. Summer of '69/ Bryan Adams
5. Melt / Rascall Flatts
6. How to Save a Life / The Fray
7. Zombie / Dilana

and I'm not gonna tag anyone - cause they've all been tagged

You know you are obsessed with scrapbooking when..

..your child is planning photo ops so you can have pictures to scrapbook!!

We bought a new weeding tool today - called an Ohio Weed puller- it looks like this and works by putting it in the ground, stepping on the bar to close the grabber and then levering it out. Pretty easy way to weed - and the kiddos loved it.


Emma kept up with it after Brett gave up, and I was sitting watching her weed while reading my latest scrapping magazine, and Emma says - "Mom aren't you going to take a picture?" Mitch asked her why, and she said "because this is going to be a memory - a memory of weedpulling and you can scrapbook it!" Well after that, I did have to go and take some pictures, and they'll be featured on a scrapbook page soon!



With Emma making sure that I take pictures of even the most mundade every day chores, I will never run out of material for scrapbook pages!!

Kindergarten Orientation

This was the "happiest day of my life" to quote Emma!! She was so excited to be going to meet her teacher and new classmates. She wasn't shy or nervous at all, and took off for the tour of the school, leaving Mom behind, without even a backward glance!




After they came back from the tour - she drew the teacher an awesome picture, and then told me I know I'm going to be so happy here. It was a great feeling to know that she would be alright in her new surroundings!

Jury Duty part 2

Well as expected - my jury group number was called for today. I was soo upset. The thought of missing Emma's kindergarten orientation was heart breaking and DH did not understand the big deal. But she is my baby, and my only girl and I want to be there for as many of her firsts as I possibly can and this one was a biggie. First time meeting her teacher, first time in her classroom, first time meeting her new classmates. I know I should feel lucky that Mitch's job is flexible enough to allow him to take off the time to take her. I tried to make the best of a bad situation, I got the camera out, gave Mitch a list of photos he was to take, laid out her outfit to wear, put her school supplies out, gave instructions on how to get to her classroom and the time. So we were covered.

I showed up for jury duty at 9am. Signed in, and sat. About 9:15 they showed us a little video about jury duty, how you are selected, how the attorny's select you for an actual juror. They handed out our juror buttons, big red buttons with white lettering that you wear at all times - so that counselors and witnesses etc know not to try and talk to you. They also gave us our juror numbers - mine was 10. There were 20 of us, in a fairly cramped little room.

My plan was to ask to be excused by the judge - even though I felt bad about asking to be let off for that reason, but the bailiff assured me that they would want my full attention on the trial - so best to mention it. But in order to ask the judge, we had to wait until we were called up into the courtroom. At about 10:00 I called Mitch to make sure he was still on track to take Emma, since he needed to leave work at 10:30 in order to get home and get her in time to make it to the orientation. I had pretty much given up on being able to go, especially after the portion of the video that showed jurors sitting around waiting and waiting and it said that we would see first hand the slow, deliberate process of the justice system - LOL. At about 5 after 10:00 they called us up to the courtroom, and the judge greeted us and then let us know that they had no need for a jury at all that day, and we would be dismissed. I was soo happy!!! He then proceeded to tell us all about jury duty, the selection process, what types of trials we might have heard...etc. As the minutes ticked away, he kept on, and then finally closed and asked for questions - and some lame brain actually asked on!! So then off the long winded judge went again!! Finally at 10:25 we were released and I was able to get ahold of Mitch just as he was getting ready to leave his office! Whew!! I'll write about her orientation and post a picture tomorrow!!

Jury Duty

I have jury duty this week. We have to call in every evening after 6 pm to find out if we are scheduled for the following day. One small problem - I FORGOT - until Tuesday afternoon!!

I race home to find my jury duty info and call the recorded line number - whew! Off the hook for Tuesday. Then I have to call the jury clerk and find out if the sheriff's are after me for failing to report on Monday. Whew again - my number wasn't called for Monday either - so even though I forgot to call - I'm in the clear.

I remembered to call in last night - number not called again today. So I have to call again tonight. With my luck, I'll get called up on Thursday when I'm supposed to be taking Emma to her Kindergarten orientation or on Friday when I need to be at work to do payroll. Oh the joy of civic duty.

More of our vacation

Went to the Sea Lion Caves - pretty cool place - gorgeous views and some interesting history.


Here are the kiddos waiting for the elevator to take them 208 feet to the surface

A view from the observatory deck in the caves. You can see the sealions on the rocks below and in the distance you can see Heceta Head Lighthouse. If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can then see those things :)

Next stop - Florence

From Salem we traveled to Florence Oregon to stay at the Holiday Inn Express and we went to the beach. I love the beach - and I love the Oregon beach more than anything! The first day - it was windy - so that wasn't so fun - but we still hiked out to see the ocean! We were even brave enough to go in the water a bit - but as you can see - we hurried right back out again :)




The next day we booked a Sand Dune tour at Sandland Adventures Back in 1985 we had taken Braeden here and done the tour, and we toyed with the idea of renting a sand rail and ATV and going out by ourselves. But it would have been about $400 for 2 hours, and they were also full - so we did the tour with 25 others on the Giant Dune Buggy.



The driver was so knowledgeable, funny and helpful too! He pulled a stuck truck out of the sand with the Giant Buggy - was cool! The kids really enjoyed the ride - the scenery is awesome and going up and down those dunes is fun! We did unfortunately see a dead seal on the beach, and Emma was quite upset and wanted to know why such a beautiful gentle creature like that had to die.

While we were waiting for our tour time, we played miniature golf, rode go-carts and bumper boats! Trying to take pictures while driving a bumper boat - is a true challenge!! But I did it!